In order to form a metal silicide or a magnetic thin film, a metal thin film of nickel, cobalt or manganese needs to be formed by chemical vapor deposition or atomic layer deposition. A cobalt oxide film or a nickel oxide film may be applied to a sensor or the like. Especially, a method for forming a nickel oxide film by chemical vapor deposition or atomic layer deposition as a memory substance to be used in a resistance random access memory (RRAM) is increasingly attracting attention. A manganese oxide film may be used as a copper diffusion barrier film in a copper wiring.
There is known a method of forming a thin film containing cobalt or nickel by chemical vapor deposition or atomic layer deposition by using a cobalt carbonyl compound or a nickel carbonyl compound. In general, however, carbonyl compounds of cobalt and nickel have a drawback in that they have low thermal stability and high toxicity.
There is also known a method of forming a nickel metal film by chemical deposition by using a tetrakistrifluorophosphine-nickel [Ni(PF3)4] compound which is a liquid at a room temperature [Y. Ohshita, M. Ishikawa, T. Kada, H. Machida and A. Ogura, Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 44, L315 (2005)]. A PF3 raw material necessary to synthesize the Ni(PF3)4 compound, however, has high toxicity and is of a high price. Furthermore, PF3 is a compound which is under regulation. Thus, large scale application of PF3 is deemed to be inappropriate.
There is also known a chemical vapor deposition method using cobalt chloride, nickel chloride, a compound obtained as a result of combining cobalt or nickel with a beta-diketonate or beta-ketoiminate ligand. However, since these materials are solid at a room temperature and have low vapor pressure, it may be difficult to apply these materials to the manufacture of a semiconductor device.
There are also reported amidinate compounds of nickel, cobalt, and manganese that may be applicable to atomic layer deposition [B. S. Lim, A. Rahtu, J. S. Park, and R. G. Gordon, Inorganic Chemistry, 42, 7951 (2003)]. Since, however, these materials are also solid at a room temperature, it may be disadvantageous to use these materials in the atomic layer deposition or chemical deposition.